Liverpool Picturebook Liverpool Entertainers Part One of a series of articles about Liverpool performers. In 2001 the Guinness Book of Records declared Liverpool 'City of Pop' due to the many number one records to have emerged from the city. The most famous band to have come from Liverpool is of course The Beatles who played many of their early gigs at the Cavern Club. There are a number of articles about The Beatles on this site, there is also a feature about Brian Epstein and another about ‘Liverpool’s Laughter Makers’ but I wanted to take some time out to mention some of the other entertainers that have put the city on the map. Now obviously, to write an article including them all would require a website all of its own, so I’m just going to pick a few at Random and maybe do a couple more of these articles over time. KENNETH Arthur Dodd, OBE was born on 8th November 1927, in Knotty Ash, Liverpool, the son of a coal merchant, Arthur Dodd and wife Sarah. He had an older brother, William (1925–2011).

He went to the Knotty Ash School, and sang in the local church choir of St John’s Church, Knotty Ash. At the age of seven, he was dared by his school friends to ride his bike with his eyes shut. He accepted the dare, crashed, and received facial injuries which resulted in his distinctive buck teeth. He then attended Holt High School, a grammar school in Childwall, but left at age fourteen to work for his father. Around this time he became interested in show business after seeing an advert in a comic: "Fool your teachers, amaze your friends—send 6d in stamps and become a ventriloquist!" he sent off for the book. Not long after, his father bought him a ventriloquist's dummy and Ken called it Charlie Brown. He started entertaining at the local orphanage, then at various other local community functions. He got his big break at age twenty-six when, in September 1954, he made his professional show-business debut at the now-demolished Nottingham Empire. Kens stand-up comedy style is fast and relies on the rapid delivery of one-liner jokes.

He has claimed that his comic influences include other Liverpool comedians like Arthur Askey, Robb Wilton, Tommy Handley and the "cheeky chappy" from Brighton Max Miller. He intersperses the comedy with occasional songs, both serious and humorous, in an incongruously fine light baritone voice. Ken was made an honorary fellow of The University of Chester on 4 November 2009, having been awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters at a graduation ceremony in Chester Cathedral. His doctorate was presented by Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster. He was awarded a Doctorate of Letters at Liverpool Hope University on 25 January 2010 during the University's Foundation Day celebrations. A bronze statue of Ken Dodd and Bessie Braddock, who died in 1970, and was MP for the old Liverpool Exchange seat for 25 years now stands at Liverpool's Lime Street Station. The statue, called 'Chance Meeting', is in the station's main concourse and shows the entertainer greeting the late Merseyside Labour MP Bessie Braddock.

BILLY Fury, was born Ronald Wycherley on April 17 1940 at Smithdown Hospital, later Sefton General Hospital, on Smithdown Road. He was the first son of Albert and Sarah Jane (Jean) Wycherley. He was an internationally successful singer from the late-1950s to the mid-1960s, and remained an active songwriter until the 1980s. An early British rock and roll and film star, he equalled The Beatles’ record of 24 hits in the 1960s, and spent 332 weeks on the UK charts.

Bruce Eder, stated, “His mix of rough-hewn good looks and unassuming masculinity, coupled with an underlying vulnerability, all presented with a good voice and some serious musical talent, helped turn Fury into a major rock and roll star in short order.” Some suggested that Fury's rapid rise to prominence was due to his ‘Elvis Presley-influenced, hip-swivelling, and at times highly suggestive stage act.’ Rheumatic fever, which he first contracted as a child, damaged his heart and ultimately contributed to his death and sadly, he died on January 28 1983. In 2003 a bronze statue of Fury by Tom Murphy was unveiled at the National Museum of Liverpool Life. CILLA Black was born Priscilla Maria Veronica White, on May 27 1943, she is most famous for her singles Anyone Who Had a Heart, You're My World, and Alfie. She has had a successful recording career which has included working as a comedy actress, and at one time was the highest-paid female presenter in British television history.

In the 1980s and 90s Cilla was with London Weekend Television, as the host of two of the most popular and long-running evening entertainment shows - Blind Date (1985–2003) and Surprise, Surprise (1984–2001). Research published by BBC Radio 2 In May 2010, claimed that Cilla Black's version of Anyone Who Had a Heart was the UK's biggest selling single by a female artist in the 1960s. Cilla attended St. Anthony's School, which was behind St. Anthony's Church in Scotland Road, and later Anfield Commercial College. She was married to her manager Bobby Willis for more than 30 years until his death from lung cancer on 23 October 1999. They had three sons: Robert, Ben and Jack. Cilla Black celebrated 50 years in show business in 2013.

Cilla died at her home in Estepona, Spain on August 1, 2015, aged 72, her funeral took place in Liverpool on 2oth August 2015, Ten thousand mourners lined the route of the funeral cortege to say 'ta-ra' to queen of showbiz. The service at St Mary's Church in Woolton featured readings from her sons Robert and Ben, as well as famous friends including Paul O'Grady, Jimmy Tarbuck and Christopher Biggins. Sir Cliff Richard sang his song Faithful One in her memory and praised her as a "fantastic pop singer" and the greatest TV presenter "of our time". Several other stars also attended the funeral, including Carol Vorderman, Lorraine Chase, Jo Wood, Les Dennis, Ted Robbins and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Cilla's coffin was carried into the church to the sound of Debussy's Clair de Lune and placed in front of the altar. The congregation then sang the opening hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful.

The Right Reverend Thomas Williams, Auxiliary Bishop of Liverpool, gave a homily at the Funeral Mass for Cilla Black in the Church of St Mary, Woolton, Liverpool - the same church in which she married Bobby on 6 March 1969. PAUL James Michael O'Grady was born at 7:30 am on 14 June 1955 at St. Catherine's Hospital, Tranmere, Birkenhead. Paul is best known for his portrayal of his alter ego Lily Savage, but also for presenting the daytime chat television series, The Paul O'Grady Show and. Paul was a hit our TV screens between 1997 and 1999 hosting Blankety Blank as Lily, and Lily Live! From 2000 to 2001.

He also appeared in the comedy sitcom Eyes Down and presented several travel documentaries, he has recently won a National Television Award in 2013 for the best Factual Entertainment programme - Paul O'Grady's For The Love Of Dogs Born to an Irish family in Birkenhead, Paul O'Grady went through various jobs in his youth, including working in various bars, including Yates’s Wine Lodge on Moorefields, as a clerk in Liverpool Magistrates Courts and for the social services. It was while living in London in 1978 that he first turned his hand to drag, developing the character of Lily Savage. The Observer listed Paul as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy, and in 2006 he was listed by The Independent at number 32 in their 101 most influential gay men and women in Britain. In October 2008, he was appointed MBE in the 2008 Birthday Honours list for services to entertainment. On 23 July 2010, O'Grady received an Honorary Doctor of Arts from De Montfort University, Leicester, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to television, radio and the stage.

FRANKIE Vaughan, CBE, DL, born Frank Abelson to a Jewish family in Devon Street, Liverpool, England on 3 February 1928. The name 'Vaughan' came from a grandmother whose first grandson he was, who used to call Frank 'my number one' grandson, in her Russian accent 'one' sounded like 'Vaughan'. Vaughan's career began in the late 1940s in the theatre doing variety song and dance acts. He was known as a fancy dresser, wearing top hat, bow tie, tails, and carrying a cane. In the 1950s he worked for a few years with the Nat Temple band, and after that period he then began making records, and was popular in the UK. In 1955, he recorded what was to become his trademark song, "Give Me the Moonlight, Give Me the Girl". Frankie at Top Hat Records in Dale Street in 1957 He continued performing until 1985, when he starred in a stage version of 42nd Street at Drury Lane in London.

Frankie Vaughan was married to Stella from 1951 to 1999 and they had three children and several grandchildren. He was created an OBE in 1965, a CBE in 1996, and as a resident of High Wycombe had been a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Buckinghamshire since 1993. He was an Honorary Fellow of Liverpool John Moores University. He died from heart failure in Oxford in 1999, aged 71. The Frankie Vaughan Archive, consisting of sheet music, scores, orchestral and band parts, was donated to Liverpool John Moores University by his widow, Stella Vaughan, in the summer of 2000. Ken Jones (left) as Horrible Ives, in Porridge Ken Jones was an English actor. Ken was born in Liverpool. After working as a signwriter and performing as an amateur, he trained at RADA and then joined Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop. Originally from Everton, Ken was born on February 20th, 1930.

He was Famous for his roles in Z Cars, Porridge and the Liver Birds, in which he played Uncle Dermot alongside his wife Sheila Fay, who played Mrs Hennessy. But he will probably be remembered most for his portrayal of "Horrible" Bernard Ives in the comedy Porridge, alongside the late Ronnie Barker and the late Richard Beckinsale. Ken Jones retired to Wales about 10 years ago, where he lived with wife, actress Sheila Fay, until her death in August. He passed away on Thursday February 13th at a nursing home in Prescot a week before his 84th birthday, having suffered from bowel cancer for the past six months. More articles about great Liverpool actors and personalities to come !

Links Watch: Billy Fury to be celebrated in new film premiering in Liverpool - Liverpool Echo What's On Watch: Billy Fury to be celebrated in new film premiering in Liverpool See trailer for Sound of Fury with Amanda Barrie, Vince Eager, Len Goodman, Imelda May and Billy’s mum, Jean Wycherley Share Billy Fury British pop singer 1967 Share Get What's On updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email Liverpool’s answer to Elvis Presley is to be honoured in a new film. Billy Fury was an internationally successful Liverpool singer from the late-1950s to the mid-1960s, and remained an active songwriter until the 1980s. Born in Smithdown Hospital and raised in the Dingle, Billy became an early British rock and roll (and film) star, equalling The Beatles’ record of 24 hits in the 1960s, and spending 332 weeks on the UK charts, all without a chart-topping single or album. Now his friends and colleagues pay their respects for the late star, with new Billy Fury Movie premier showing on June 18 at Fact’s Picture House cinema.

Billy Fury British pop singer 1968 The revealing and sometimes shocking film, Billy Fury: The Sound of Fury, examines the Scouse singer’s too short life and features contributions from fans, friends and family including Lord Puttnam, Amanda Barrie, Vince Eager, Len Goodman, Imelda May and Billy’s mum, Jean Wycherley. She has been heavily involved in the film and allowed the team to film a tribute in Billy’s bedroom, which is still as he left it. Famous Rock n’ Roll stable mate, Billy’s close friend and flat mate Vince Eager will be hosting the premiere, with Mrs Wycherley as the guest of honour. Billy Fury with co stars Jackie Sands (Right) and Karen Andrews who are appearing with Billy in a £10000 Spectacular at the Royal Aquarium Great Yarmouth mdtgu Director Mark Sloper says: “It’s been a personal passion of mine as a music fan to keep the legacy of Liverpool’s Billy Fury alive and kicking.

After two years of acquiring unseen archive film for TV stations and close family, we are now in a position to show an unseen side to the fantastic but short life of Billy, Britons first Rock ‘N’ Roller.” Video Loading Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8Cancel Play now Billy enjoyed chart success in the late fifties and early sixties with songs like I Will, Colette, Maybe Tomorrow and It’s Only Make Believe. His 1960 album The Sound of Fury remains a seminal example of British rock ’n’ roll. John Lennon was a big fan and even kept his autograph. In 1962 Billy became a big screen heart-throb and appeared in his first film, the Elvis-esque Play It Cool, alongside Helen Shapiro and Bobby Vee. The one-time Mersey tugboat deckhand was dogged by heart problems throughout his short but eventful life. He eventually had surgery in 1967. A role in the Ray Connolly film That’ll Be the Day with former Dingle schoolmate Ringo Starr tempted him back before the cameras in 1973.

But his comeback album, The One And Only, was only released posthumously as Billy died on January 28, 1983 at the age of 42. His legacy lives on. Here’s what some of the contributors had to say about Billy: Imelda May “Billy was the whole package, he had it all not only could he sing like an angel he was beautiful too.” Vince Eager “Billy was my flatmate, best friend, and fellow musician through the early 1960’s, this new film will show the real Billy Fury in all his glory.” Len Goodman - Strictly Come Dancing “Billy was fantastic, my favorite song to dance the tango to is Jealousy.” Jean Wycherley - Billy’s mum “Billy was such a quiet boy, but he had this determination to make it with his music. I never doubted his talent, but when he came on stage with the spotlight on him, even me, his own mum was shocked at just how brilliant he was as a performer.” Like us on Facebook Most Read Most Recent Billy Fury - the man Read more...

Billy said: "I don't think my mother and father really believed what had happened when I told them, until I was actually packing my suitcase the next morning. Then my mum got a bit worried about me going off all on my own, but I convinced her it was the biggest chance I'd ever have." Parnes reasoned that no one called Ronald Wycherley would become a rock star, so he renamed him Billy - after band leader Billy Cotton - and Fury, to compensate for the singer's shyness. Ron argued, but as was to prove the case so often, Parnes had his way. Had Ron held sway, the world would have heard the music of "Stean Wade". Billy's first recording, Maybe Tomorrow (one of those he offered to Marty Wilde) went into the Top 20. Within seven months, he had signed a seven year contract with Decca. He made the Sound Of Fury 10-inch album, a rockabilly collection of self-penned numbers, which remains many fans' favourite recording. Every song was recorded during two, three hour sessions. Among the backing instrumentalists is Joe Brown, later to have a number 1 with Picture Of You, and still touring today.

For backing vocals, Billy flew the Four Jays from Liverpool at his own expense. The drummer, Andy White, played drums on The Beatles' Love Me Do when Ringo was declared inadequate. One of the groups that auditioned unsuccessfully to become Billy's backing group comprised Johnny Hutch (standing in for Tommy Moore on drums), Stu Sutcliffe, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison. For the first time, they called themselves The Silver Beetles . According to pop legend, they were offered the job at £20 a week each if the inexpert Stu Sutcliffe was dropped as bass guitarist, but John Lennon (who had earlier secured Billy's autograph) refused to desert his friend. In the next year, Billy had four more hits, including Colette, on which one of the Vernons Girls sang harmony. Colette was an actress in a sub-titled French film, who so impressed Billy that he wrote the song on a cigarette packet that he found on the floor of the cinema. Billy once explained his song-writing method: "I get an idea when I'm depressed, usually because one of my girls has let me down, and I scribble a lyric and sing the thing straight into a tape recorder.

It never gets on to paper until someone at the music publisher puts it there. Then they send me back an arrangement, which I can't read, so I just record it the way I thought of it." Billy loved rock and roll, and he could belt out the real rocking numbers. However, Parnes re-invented him as a balladeer, and in the eyes of the public, Billy became identified with big production numbers. His cover version of Tony Orlando's Halfway To Paradise went to number 3 in 1961, and to many people in the UK, Billy Fury and Paradise are inextricably linked. From 1995-7, listeners to Britain's most popular oldies station, Gem-AM, voted Halfway To Paradise the runner-up in their annual favourite oldies chart. (The winner each year was Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers.) Paradise finally reached number 1 in the vote in 1998. Billy fought his shyness and became a real presence on stage, with his typical hunched-shoulder stance, and the British public took him to their hearts. Although the hits continued to come, Billy never had a number 1.

He reached number 2 with Jealousy, and while When Will You Say I Love You was at number 3, the top spot was held by From Me To You, by the band that once failed an audition for the job of Billy's backing group. In fact, in the 1960s, Billy had more top 20 hits in the UK than anyone except The Beatles, Cliff Richard and Elvis Presley. Billy's heart problems continued to plague him from the end of 1961. On some tour dates, he had to cut short his act, and on others he would be replaced at the last minute. At the time, fans were told that he was suffering from exhaustion or flu. He was backed by some fine groups, including the Tornados, Georgie Fame And The Blue Flames, an early line-up of Mott The Hoople, and The Gamblers . Billy's good looks made him a natural for television. His first appearance was in a drama, Ted Willis's Strictly For The Sparrows, in which he sang one song. He made his debut in Jack Good 's Oh Boy!

in February, 1959, then he and Marty Wilde became two of the favourite performers on Jack Good's Boy Meets Girls , which ran from September, 1959 to March 1960. Next, Billy and Marty co-hosted Good's last regular TV series, Wham!, which lasted nine weeks in 1960. In 1962, he made his film debut in Play It Cool, a low budget film that was Michael Winner's first major feature. Other films were I've Gotta Horse, and a guest appearance in That'll Be The Day - the album from this film reached no 1. That May, amid much publicity, he and Parnes flew to Los Angeles to present Elvis Presley with gold and silver discs for UK sales. They met on the Paramount Pictures set of Girls, Girls, Girls. Billy recalled 20 years later: "We didn't really say much at all. I was on the set all day watching him. All we really got to say to each other was: 'Hi'.

He was one of the nicest people I ever met - he called everyone 'sir'." As a result, Billy's last release of 1962 was Because Of Love, a ballad from the film. Parnes had knocked a year off Billy's age, believing that this would make him more attractive to girl fans. So on his 22nd birthday, Billy had to pretend it was his 21st, and celebrate appropriately. Frequent illnesses had begun to depress him, but he struggled through variety shows and pantomimes, which he disliked intensely. The new sound created by the other Liverpool lads, led by The Beatles, began to sideline established artists. Although Cliff Richard and Adam Faith retained their following, Marty Wilde, Craig Douglas, Joe Brown, Eden Kane, John Leyton, Mark Wynter and others were struggling to record hit material. After his last top 10 hit, In Thoughts Of You, in 1965, Billy began to take the time to indulge his love of wild life. He became unable to undertake much promotional work after signing with EMI's Parlophone label in 1967, playing cabaret when his health allowed.

Billy found peace whenever possible at his home in Ockley, Surrey, to which he moved after fans plagued him at his homes in London. At Ockley, he had a a mock-Tudor mansion with ten acres, where he could assemble a considerable menagerie and play host to the greats of the show business world. Billy eventually needed open heart surgery in 1971. He could not afford private treatment, and was admitted to a National Health Service ward. He then took six months' total rest and enjoyed renewed health for a while, on the 100-acre farm that his partner Lisa Rosen bought for them near Llandovery, Wales. His 11 Parlophone releases covered a bewildering variety of styles. There seemed to be no consistent musical direction and a procession of producers. Audrey ("Lee") Middleton (b 14.2.37), who had been his live-in girlfriend for eight years, left him and married Kenny Everett . Billy married Lee's one-time best friend, Judith Hall , on 31st May 1969, but the marriage was short-lived. The last 12 years of Billy's life were shared with Lisa Rosen .

None of his relationships produced children, although Lee had two miscarriages. Lisa provided much-needed financial support, as well as helping Billy to deal with an increasing dependence on alcohol, brought on by bouts of depression. In 1973, Billy resurfaced briefly in the film That'll Be The Day, then in 1976, he needed a second heart operation, and he went into retirement for the rest of the Seventies. He re-recorded his old hits for K-Tel in 1978 as part of an arrangement with his creditors, after being declared bankrupt, owing the Inland Revenue £16,780. Billy always blamed Larry Parnes for the problem, as in the early days, Parnes paid Billy a wage but did not take care of the tax. He was discharged from bankruptcy a year later. A real comeback seemed on the cards in the early 1980s, when he was tempted into the studio again, to record the tracks for an exceptional album, The One And Only Billy Fury, which was issued after his death. On 7th March, 1982, he collapsed at his farm, suffering partial paralysis and temporary blindness.

Lisa drove him to hospital in London, and he made a good recovery. A live TV show and a national promotional tour followed, but at 2.10pm on 28th January, 1983*, he was pronounced dead on arrival at St Mary's Hospital, London, after being found unconscious in his flat in Cavendish Avenue, St John's Wood. He apparently died in the ambulance. The heart weakness that had dogged him throughout his life finally claimed him. The Edwardian Teddy Boy - Billy Fury Billy Fury Chris Steele-Perkins Liverpudlian Ronald Wycherly aka Billy Fury became part of the Larry Parnes stable of British Rock n Rollers in the late 1950's along with artists such as Marty Wilde. He is mainly famous for his ballads such as Halfway to Paradise, however Billy Fury stands alone in that he wrote virtually all the songs on the legendary Sound of Fury Album and most of these were in a rockabilly style not previously heard of by a British artist. Billy Fury Billy Fury was a member of the Larry Parnes stable of singers in the late 1950s / early 1960s.

He was born at 8.45am on April 17, 1940, in Smithdown Hospital, Liverpool, now Sefton General Hospital, weighing 6lbs 15oz. Initially, his father Albert (d 1985), a wartime soldier who became a shoemaker, and mother Sarah Jane (known as Jean) Wycherley (b March 25 1921), planned to call him Kenneth, but this was soon changed to Ronald. He was visiting his father in London in 1943 when he was bitten on the right cheek by a dog, resulting in a life-long scar. While living at 34 Haliburton Street, Ron attended St Silas's Infants' School. In 1946, he suffered his first bout of rheumatic fever. This weakened his heart valves, and led to recurrent poor health, and eventually, his death. His first stay in Alder Hey Hospital lasted for two months, during which time he had to lie flat. He was back in hospital a year later. Aged 12, he suffered a relapse, and he was confined to hospital in Wales.

After two weeks, he could stand it no longer, and he climbed down a drainpipe from his second floor room. He was caught in nearby fields. During one stay, he overheard a doctor tell his mother he might not live to be 30. In later years, he told many of his friends that he expected to die young. Ron's younger brother Albert (b 26 June 1943) suffered a milder form of the same heart condition and was also admitted to Alder Hey. This left Albert with a murmur which has not caused serious problems. Aged 11, Ron started piano lessons, but three years later, a more significant event occurred, when his parents bought him his first guitar from Frank Hessy's shop as a 14th birthday present. Ron became an enthusiastic strummer, but he was never a great talent on the guitar, and on the rare occasions that he appeared with one, it was little more than a prop. In a later interview, he said he was only ever proficient in three chords.

(Many years after his death, the original guitar was discovered, broken, in the attic of Jean's home.It has been repaired, but it has never been returned, to prevent it being stressed.) In 1955, aged 15, Ron left Wellington Road Secondary Modern School . He said that his days there were the unhappiest of his young life. His father found him a job at Ellison's Engineering. Initially, he was a tea boy, but he was eventually allowed to heat rivets for the welders. This job lasted for about a year, until Ron and a friend welded together some metal as a joke. The foreman started shouting at Billy in front of his workmates. Billy swung at the foreman with a welding gun...and that was the end of his job. His father found him a job as a deckhand on the tugboat Formby. He was inspired by country and western records brought by sailors from New York and formed the Formby Sniffle Group, which performed in local cafés. He recalled later: "I started listening to Hank Williams first, because pop songs then, the lyrics weren't very deep; they weren't the broken-hearted type of lyrics I enjoyed.

"Hank Williams and some of the country and western singers were singing about real life and how it feels when you get let down, so I kind of tagged on to their stuff." Ron changed boats, but quickly fell out with the skipper, and this job is said to have ended when 5ft 10½ inch Ron ended an argument by throwing a punch. In 1957, he moved to Joshua Harris's department store, and was inspired by fellow-employee Margo King to write Margo (Don't Go). He played several gigs and both his singing and song-writing abilities begain to impress his limited audience. In May, 1958, he cut six tracks on a 78rpm acetate at Percy F. Phillips' recording studio in Liverpool. He also sent a tape of songs to impresario Larry Parnes, together with a photograph of him at the Star Studio, Bold Street. He received no reply, but in the meantime, Ron entered a local talent contest, Caroll Levis Discoveries, at the Liverpool Empire, but he failed to make a big impression.

His mother wrote again to Larry Parnes, who this time invited him to see him at the Birkenhead Essoldo on 1st October, when one of his package tours, The Larry Parnes Extravaganza, was being staged. One member of the tour company who spotted Billy at the Essoldo was Brian Bennett, the backing drummer in Marty Wilde's band. He said later: "Billy had a guitar in a plastic bag, and he had a pair of brothel creepers: they were sort of big suede shoes. He had this wonderful, swept-back blond hair." Ron took his guitar and sang five of his songs to Marty Wilde and Parnes, hoping that Marty would record some of them. Instead, in an episode that has become music legend, Parnes took Billy on stage during the interval, and when the curtains opened, a frightened 18-year-old made his public debut as a singer. He sang Margo, Don't Knock Upon My Door and Maybe Tomorrow. Ron said later that he was so nervous that his knees were literally knocking - but the fans thought it was part of the act.

Next day, he and his guitar joined the tour and Billy made his professional debut that night in Stretford. Billy said: "I don't think my mother and father really believed what had happened when I told them, until I was actually packing my suitcase the next morning. Then my mum got a bit worried about me going off all on my own, but I convinced her it was the biggest chance I'd ever have." Parnes reasoned that no one called Ronald Wycherley would become a rock star, so he renamed him Billy - after band leader Billy Cotton - and Fury, to compensate for the singer's shyness. Ron argued, but as was to prove the case so often, Parnes had his way. Had Ron held sway, the world would have heard the music of "Stean Wade". Billy's first recording, Maybe Tomorrow (one of those he offered to Marty Wilde) went into the Top 20. Within seven months, he had signed a seven year contract with Decca. He made the 'Sound Of Fury' 10-inch album, a rockabilly collection of self-penned numbers, which remains many fans' favourite recording. Every song was recorded during two, three hour sessions.

Among the backing instrumentalists is Joe Brown, later to have a number 1 with Picture Of You, and still touring today. For backing vocals, Billy flew the Four Jays from Liverpool at his own expense. The drummer, Andy White, played drums on The Beatles' Love Me Do when Ringo was declared inadequate. One of the groups that auditioned unsuccessfully to become Billy's backing group comprised Johnny Hutch (standing in for Tommy Moore on drums), Stu Sutcliffe, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison. For the first time, they called themselves The Sliver Beetles. According to pop legend, they were offered the job at £20 a week each if the inexpert Stu Sutcliffe was dropped as bass guitarist, but John Lennon (who had earlier secured Billy's autograph) refused to desert his friend. In the next year, Billy had four more hits, including Colette, on which one of the Vernons Girls sang harmony. Colette was an actress in a sub-titled French film, who so impressed Billy that he wrote the song on a cigarette packet that he found on the floor of the cinema.

Billy once explained his song-writing method: "I get an idea when I'm depressed, usually because one of my girls has let me down, and I scribble a lyric and sing the thing straight into a tape recorder. It never gets on to paper until someone at the music publisher puts it there. Then they send me back an arrangement, which I can't read, so I just record it the way I thought of it." Billy loved rock and roll, and he could belt out the real rocking numbers. However, Parnes re-invented him as a balladeer, and in the eyes of the public, Billy became identified with big production numbers. His cover version of Tony Orlando's Halfway To Paradise went to number 3 in 1961, and to many people in the UK, Billy Fury and Paradise are inextricably linked. From 1995-7, listeners to Britain's most popular oldies station, Gem-AM, voted Halfway To Paradise the runner-up in their annual favourite oldies chart. (The winner each year was Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers.) Paradise finally reached number 1 in the vote in 1998.

Billy fought his shyness and became a real presence on stage, with his typical hunched-shoulder stance, and the British public took him to their hearts. Although the hits continued to come, Billy never had a number 1. He reached number 2 with Jealousy, and while When Will You Say I Love You was at number 3, the top spot was held by From Me To You, by the band that once failed an audition for the job of Billy's backing group. In fact, in the 1960s, Billy had more top 20 hits in the UK than anyone except The Beatles, Cliff Richard and Elvis Presley. Billy's heart problems continued to plague him from the end of 1961. On some tour dates, he had to cut short his act, and on others he would be replaced at the last minute. At the time, fans were told that he was suffering from exhaustion or flu. He was backed by some fine groups, including the Tornados, Georgie Fame and The Blue Flames, an early line-up of Mott The Hoople, and The Gamblers. Billy's good looks made him a natural for television.

His first appearance was in a drama, Ted Willis's Strictly For The Sparrows, in which he sang one song. He made his debut in Jack Good's Oh Boy! in February, 1959, then he and Marty Wilde became two of the favourite performers on Jack Good's Boy Meets Girls, which ran from September, 1959 to March 1960. Next, Billy and Marty co-hosted Good's last regular TV series, Wham!, which lasted nine weeks in 1960. In 1962, he made his film debut in Play It Cool, a low budget film that was Michael Winner's first major feature. Other films were I've Gotta Horse, and a guest appearance in That'll Be The Day - the album from this film reached no 1. That May, amid much publicity, he and Parnes flew to Los Angeles to present Elvis Presley with gold and silver discs for UK sales. They met on the Paramount Pictures set of Girls, Girls, Girls. Billy recalled 20 years later: "We didn't really say much at all. I was on the set all day watching him.

All we really got to say to each other was: 'Hi'. He was one of the nicest people I ever met - he called everyone 'sir'." As a result, Billy's last release of 1962 was Because Of Love, a ballad from the film. Parnes had knocked a year off Billy's age, believing that this would make him more attractive to girl fans. So on his 22nd birthday, Billy had to pretend it was his 21st, and celebrate appropriately. Frequent illnesses had begun to depress him, but he struggled through variety shows and pantomimes, which he disliked intensely. The new sound created by the other Liverpool lads, led by The Beatles, began to sideline established artists. Although Cliff Richard and Adam Faith retained their following, Marty Wilde, Craig Douglas, Joe Brown, Eden Kane, John Leyton, Mark Wynter and others were struggling to record hit material. After his last top 10 hit, In Thoughts Of You, in 1965, Billy began to take the time to indulge his love of wild life.

He became unable to undertake much promotional work after signing with EMI's Parlophone label in 1967, playing cabaret when his health allowed. Billy found peace whenever possible at his home in Ockley, Surrey, to which he moved after fans plagued him at his homes in London. At Ockley, he had a a mock-Tudor mansion with ten acres, where he could assemble a considerable menagerie and play host to the greats of the show business world. Billy eventually needed open heart surgery in 1971. He could not afford private treatment, and was admitted to a National Health Service ward. He then took six months' total rest and enjoyed renewed health for a while, on the 100-acre farm that his partner Lisa Rosen bought for them near Llandovery, Wales. His 11 Parlophone releases covered a bewildering variety of styles. There seemed to be no consistent musical direction and a procession of producers. Audrey ("Lee") Middleton (b 14.2.37), who had been his live-in girlfriend for eight years, left him and married Kenny Everett.

Billy married Lee's one-time best friend, Judith Hall, on 31st May 1969, but the marriage was short-lived. The last 12 years of Billy's life were shared with Lisa Rosen. None of his relationships produced children, although Lee had two miscarriages. Lisa provided much-needed financial support, as well as helping Billy to deal with an increasing dependence on alcohol, brought on by bouts of depression. In 1973, Billy resurfaced briefly in the film That'll Be The Day, then in 1976, he needed a second heart operation, and he went into retirement for the rest of the Seventies. He re-recorded his old hits for K-Tel in 1978 as part of an arrangement with his creditors, after being declared bankrupt, owing the Inland Revenue £16,780. Billy always blamed Larry Parnes for the problem, as in the early days, Parnes paid Billy a wage but did not take care of the tax. He was discharged from bankruptcy a year later.

A real comeback seemed on the cards in the early 1980s, when he was tempted into the studio again, to record the tracks for an exceptional album, The One And Only Billy Fury, which was issued after his death. On 7th March, 1982, he collapsed at his farm, suffering partial paralysis and temporary blindness. Lisa drove him to hospital in London, and he made a good recovery. A live TV show and a national promotional tour followed, but at 2.10pm on 28th January, 1983, he was pronounced dead on arrival at St Mary's Hospital, London, after being found unconscious in his flat in Cavendish Avenue, St John's Wood. He apparently died in the ambulance. The heart weakness that had dogged him throughout his life finally claimed him.

Question: Which famous British singer and songwriter, born at Smithdown Hospital in Liverpool, died on 28th January 1983?
Answer: BILLY FURY